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Category Archives: Pension

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In Monday’s Chicago Sun-Times Better Government Association President Andy Shaw continues his campaign to convince the to pass a tax on retirement income in Illinois. When a similar pitch was made on the BGA website, I left the following comment: … Continue reading →

The following Jack Franks’ ad showed up on Facebook all over McHenry County: Of course, to get anything done this year, Franks would have to use one of his 48 shell bills (that is, bills with no content). Or use … Continue reading →

Rich Miller of Capitol Fax has a story about Saturday’s State Journal-Register story about Jack Frank’s effort to damage McHenry County Board members by stimulating a Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund investigation of whether they qualify. “As we’ve discussed before, Rep. … Continue reading →

Veteran political reporter Bernie Schoenberg of the State Journal-Register has picked up the county board member pension story. The issue was started by McHenry County by State Rep. Jack Franks, who is polling to see if he should run for … Continue reading →

Mike Walkup, the Republican nominee for McHenry County Board Chairman called for an end to member pensions Tuesday. I took lots of notes and don’t have time to transcribe them, but fortunately Walkup provided me with the following copy of … Continue reading →

The Better Government Association perhaps should change its name to the “Better Government with More Taxes Association.” Bad acronym, but that certain describes its pitch in this article. Just looking at the graphic the BGA used in its article tells … Continue reading →

The McHenry County Board’s Human Resources Committee will meet Thursday, April 21, 2016, at 8:15 AM, but there is nothing on the very sparse agenda concerning ending Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund pensions for County Board members. Committee members will discuss a … Continue reading →

Because there are so many state legislators who hold local governmental jobs, the Illinois General Assembly has enacted a law that says the practice of double-dipping is fine…as long as one is not paid for one’s local government employment while … Continue reading →

While state legislators were conferring about the statewide implications of the pension attack started by Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers and State Rep. Jack Franks, an April Fool’s Day letter was being sent from the Illinois … Continue reading →

One of the McHenry County Board members who promised not to sign-up for Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund pension benefits and carried through on that pledge says that he wasn’t told of the 1,000 annual work requirement when he went through … Continue reading →

Below is a list of counties where board members might have problems similar to those facing McHenry County Board members if someone like State Rep. Jack Franks raises the issue. I would imagine that in Democratic Party-controlled counties a Republican … Continue reading →

Republican candidate for State Representative Allen Skillicorn sent the following post card before the election: Besides reminding me of his pre-election mailing, Skillicorn sent the following press release: IMRF Investigation Reminds Us To End State Legislative Pensions Now While the … Continue reading →

One commenter, “Occam,” has pointed out that State Rep. Jack Franks has won the fight to get rid of County Board pensions: There was a comment above that Franks’ goal was to remove the pension benefit. As a practical matter, … Continue reading →

Relatively new editor of the Northwest Herald seems to be clicking with his readers now that he is writing short comments on page 2 of the new tabloid. It’s taken a while for the former editor of the DeKalb Chronicle … Continue reading →

Under this story, local resident Steve Willson offers his opinion on the McHenry County Board’s pension problem: It was a witch hunt, pure and simple, and a selective one at that, given that former board members and downstate County board … Continue reading →

McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi has withdrawn his motion asking Judge Thomas Meyer whether a Special Prosecutor should be appointed to investigate whether criminal charges should be filed against County Board members who signed certificates saying the position “normally … Continue reading →

Louis Kosiba’s comments at Thursday night’s McHenry County Board meeting, he said that he had met with a local State Senator who was “very interested in working through a legislative solution.” Since State Senator Pam Althoff’s district covers most of … Continue reading →

When I heard that the McHenry County State’s Attorney had filed a motion concerning the County Board pension issue with Judge Thomas Meyer, I sent Lou Bianchi the following email: I have told that the office filed a motion with … Continue reading →

Republican State Rep. candidate Steve Reick has been looking at the over $100 billion state pension problem since he first ran against Jack Franks two years ago. In January, he came up with a new approach, which is outlined below: … Continue reading →

The following was first published the day before the March 15th Primary Election, but, in view of the County Board meeting of last night, I think it is worth repeating: I have been so inundated that two topics that deserve … Continue reading →